Geomarketing      
 
  Press Release  
 
Bruchsal, May 22, 2013
 
New CRESTA zones support more precise risk management in insurance industry
 

CRESTA zones provide a universal standard for the exchange of aggregated, insurance-related information among insurers and reinsurers. This year a comprehensive reform goes into effect that will expand the previous 43,000 zones to more than 250,000 zones and extend to a total of 137 countries worldwide. GfK GeoMarketing is the official supplier of the digital CRESTA zone maps.

In order to provide insurers with a more unified, up-to-date and streamlined reporting standard, the CRESTA organization no longer defines CRESTA zones based on perils and disaster incidences. The zones are now based on official postcode and administrative maps from GfK GeoMarketing, the largest provider of digital maps of postal and administrative boundaries on the market.

As of May 2013, the new CRESTA zones were subdivided into high-resolution (“HighRes”) and low-resolution (“LowRes”) zones. The high-resolution zones are ideally suited to data exchange and natural catastrophe modeling, while the low-resolution zones are intended for accumulation control and data visualization.

Zones were previously available for 86 countries, along with supplementary subzones. The CRESTA database has been expanded to include 137 countries and can be accessed freely by users from the insurance and reinsurance industries at www.cresta.org. This service is sponsored by Munich Re and Swiss Re.

"Postcodes and administrative zones offer greater detail and a more clearly defined data basis," says Dr. Jürgen Schimetschek, head of the CRESTA secretariat and risk manager at Munich Re. "This is an important prerequisite for accurate, up-to-date risk analyses."

"The highly detailed 2013 CRESTA maps are a direct response to the demand for precise and reliable maps and data sources by reinsurance companies," explains Simon Luehr, coordinator for map projects at GfK GeoMarketing.

Worldwide demand for a precise cartographic basis for estimating risk and damages from natural catastrophes continues to grow. The new CRESTA maps offer users from across the entire insurance and reinsurance industries a valuable basis for calculating insurance policies.

CRESTA.org - online database for the reinsurance industry
To facilitate the transition to the new zones, the CRESTA website at www.cresta.org lets users cartographically visualize both the new and – on a temporary basis – old zones and subzones.

CRESTA additionally offers assignment tables (so-called “mapping tables”) for correlating the old and new zones. Users can also visualize aggregated insured sums per CRESTA zone by uploading a standardized ACORD (Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development) table.

One useful new feature lets users quickly and easily determine the CRESTA zone for any entered coordinates.

Applications in GIS applications and other mapping solutions
The 2013 CRESTA zones can be orderd from GfK GeoMarketing as digital maps or geodata and can be imported into all standard GIS, BI or risk modeling software. This makes it possible to carry out a wide range of analyses, including user-defined queries, data aggregation and risk-scenario modeling as well as the creation of highly detailed reports.

Digital maps serve as the foundation for the geographic analysis of data in specialized mapping software. The branch-specific CRESTA maps support reinsurers in estimating regional damages and risks from natural catastrophes such as storms, floods and earthquakes.

GfK GeoMarketing offers worldwide digital maps illustrating postcodes and administrative regions such as municipalities. GfK GeoMarketing's regularly updated and expanded maps comprise the largest collection of digital administrative and postcode maps on the market. GfK GeoMarketing has established a reputation in the industry for global coverage, attention to detail and precisely rendered boundaries that fit together without gaps and overlaps.

GfK GeoMarketing also provides regionalized market data that fits seamlessly with their maps, such as detailed, Europe-wide data on purchasing power, inhabitants and households. This geodata makes it possible to estimate potential damages and claims on a regional basis.

Data formats
GfK GeoMarketing's maps and data are available in all standard digital map formats, including *.shp (ESRI), *.tab (MapInfo) and *.gdb (Oracle Spatial GeoDatabase). All of GfK GeoMarketing's digital maps are vector-based and thus support infinite zoom. Additional information can be found at www.gfk-geomarketing.com/maps.

Additional information on the digital CRESTA maps can be obtained at www.gfk-geomarketing.com/cresta or by contacting Simon Luehr: T +49 7251 9295 145 or simon.luehr@gfk.com.

 
 
About the CRESTA organization
 
 

For more than 35 years, the independent CRESTA organization has dedicated itself to creating a universal standard for worldwide accumulation control and natural catastrophe planning. The acronym CRESTA stands for "Catastrophe Risk Evaluating and Standardizing Target Accumulations". Munich Re and Swiss Re alternate responsibility for the CRESTA secretariat, with Munich Re taking charge in 2013. The secretariat is currently headed by Dr. Jürgen Schimetschek, risk manager at Munich Re.

More information at www.cresta.org.

 
 
About GfK GeoMarketing
 
 

GfK GeoMarketing's headquarters are located in Bruchsal, Germany. The company is a subsidiary of GfK. GfK is one of the world’s largest research companies, with around 13,000 experts working to discover new insights into the way people live, think and shop, in over 100 markets, every day. GfK is constantly innovating and using the latest technologies and the smartest methodologies to give its clients the clearest understanding of the most important people in the world: their customers. In 2012, GfK’s sales amounted to €1.51 billion.

Additional information can be found at www.gfk-geomarketing.com.

 
 
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GfK GeoMarketing GmbH
Werner-von-Siemens-Str. 9, Gebäude 6508, 76646 Bruchsal, Germany
Managing director: Wolfram Scholz
Commercial register Mannheim, HRB 250872
www.gfk-geomarketing.com

 
 
 
Press contact:
Cornelia Lichtner
Public relations
+49 7251 9295 270
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